Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
2 0 1 9 S E A S O N P R E V I E W SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY One of Penn State's greatest teams is set to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. But pollsters' warm feelings toward a rival prevented the Lions from receiving the commemoration they deserved in 1994 or 25 years, the Penn State Nation has been complaining about the 1994 national championship that went to Nebraska. It was a public smackdown of a remarkable football team that went 12-0, won the Big Ten title and beat Oregon decisively in the Rose Bowl. Due to a series of unforeseen circumstances on and off the field that were beyond their control, the Nittany Lions didn't receive even a share of the national title from one of the two polls that in those days determined the victor. Timing is everything in life, to use an old adage. Penn State's timing in 1994 was off for several reasons, perhaps most of all, because of the coach of the team that won the national champi- onship, Tom Osborne. Furthermore, in a modern-day echo of the early 1990s, the Big Ten champion has been left out of the four-team College Football Playoff for the past three years, including Penn State in 2016. The talented 1994 team faced a similar quandary after PSU joined the Big Ten in 1991. One could easily conclude there is a distinct bias against Penn State within the college football community. No way, claim the critics, who often respond by raising the issue of paranoia. This bias, real or perceived, goes back several decades before the 1994 team to the first 10 years of coach Joe Paterno's Penn State tenure. Despite fielding un- defeated, untied teams in 1968, '69 and '73, Penn State was never ranked higher than No. 2. Dan Jenkins, the legendary writer for Sports Illustrated, summed it up perfectly after the Nittany Lions had lost the 1972 Sugar Bowl game to Okla- homa when he wrote, "For some reason, Penn State has the knack of bringing out the worst in good teams. Maybe that's because the Nittany Lions do not com- mand enough respect, being from the East, and all." Jenkins' publication was still sneering at Penn State in its 1973 preseason issue, concluding its appraisal with the following: "Given its schedule – oh so easy with the Marylands and Navys – 10-1 is the worst it can be." With Penn State's only Heisman Trophy winner, John Cappelletti, leading the way, the 1973 Nittany Lions were 12-0 with a convincing Orange Bowl victory over LSU. Yet, they were disparaged again by The Associated Press media and UPI coaches' polls with a humiliat- ing No. 5 ranking. F